goffin



I j UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

F. C. GOFFIN, OF NEW YORK. N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO A. B. ELY.'

ATTACHIN'G CROSS-BAR FASTENINGS VAULT, AND SAFE DOORS.

Specification of Letters Patent No 10,405, dated January 10, 1854.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, F. C. GoFFIN, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Fortifying and Securing the Doors of Safes, Bank-Vaults, &c.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1, is a front view of a safe having double doors. Fig. 2, is a back or inside view of the doors. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the double doors and front of the safe, the line of section being taken above the cross-bar.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts of each of the several figures.

This invention relating to a new and improved mode of securing the doors of safes, Vaults, &c., may perhaps be best illustrated by referring to a set of double doors with plain panels, a wide middle rail, and stiles to each. Across the doors from one outside stile to the other and through the center of the middle rails a rectangular cavity or groove is made, as deep usually as to the outer surface of the panels. In this cavity a rectangular bar of the same thickness as the depth of the groove is fitted, having stapleson its under side, so that when it is in place it completely fills the cavity and has its outer surface even with that of the rails and stiles. The staples pass through slots into the interior of the door and are bolted on the inside in any suitable manner. When the {bar is fastenedin its place, bar and door together present a smooth surface, so that no claw or pry can be inserted under the bar or between the bar and door, either at the sides or ends, and in this manner furnish a fastening almost invulnerable and heretofore unknown.

To enable others skilled in the art to fully understand and construct myv invention I will proceed to describe it. I

A A represents the double doors of a safe with plain panels and B the cross-bar. The portion (a) of the bar may be permanently secured to the door A, while the portion (Z2) is movable upon a hinge (c), or the whole bar may be movable, and constructed with steps at each end, so as to slip into cavities under D D, or rigid and without any hinge.

C C C C are cross strips or rails and D D side strips or stiles securely attached to and made part of the doors. Running across the doors from D to D a cavity or groove is constructed of the same depth as that of the cross and side strips. The bar B is of the same size as this cavity and when 1n its place completely fills up the groove and has its outer surface even and smooth with, that of the strips. The bar may be sunk into the body'of a plain door.

The cross bar is provided with staples (d, d), which are secured to the inner surface of the bar and pass into slots in the door A. Staples maybe applied to one or both ends according to t-hekind of bar used.

. On the interior of the door are placed bolts (6, e), which are made to pass through the staples (d, d,) when the bar is fast and are operated by a key or other suitable means from without.

The keyhole (g) of the door lock may b placed in the cavity or groove underneath the bar B, so thatwhile the bar gives additional strength and security to the doors, and of itself forms a most reliable mode .of fastening, italso renders the keyhole of the door lock inaccessible to burglars, as the lock of the bar must first be picked before the lock of the door can be reached. The lock-that fastens the bolts of the bar may also be made to fasten the bolts of the doors, so that one look may answer for both purposes; or the door bolts may be doubly locked besides the additional security of a bar that cannot be got at to be wrenched 0H. No other cross-bar has ever possessed these qualities or been made in this manner. Those ordinarily used heretofore have been merely placed upon and against the surface of the doors, and secured by a padlock through a staple fastened to and projecting from the door, and passing through a slot in the bar in such manner that the padlock can easily be broken and the bar wrenched off by a lever or pry, results which cannot be attained in connection with my cross-bar. Small escutcheons have sometimes been i put upon lbcks and made flush therewlth on two sides by means of battens or otherwise,

but these besides being exposed at the ends, or otherwise left so as to be easily pried up or wrenched oif, have been used only in con- 1 nection with locks and for the simple pur- What I claim as such and desire to secure by pose of covering the keyholes th'ereoli. In Letters Patent is r 1 no case have they been made or applied in a The above described groove and crossbar like manner or for like purposes, or under constructed andarranged in the manner and 15 5 a like arrangement or combination of parts for the purpose substantially as set forthin or with like connections or results as my combination with the doors designed to be cross bar, which with its adjuncts is in- "fortified and secured thereby.

tended to be used in combination or connec- F. G. GOFFIN. tion with the doors which it fortifies and VVitnessesi l0 secures. S. H. VVALEs,

Having thus fully described my invention, E. C. POLI-IAMUS. 

